


GOLD RUSH

by saltywaves



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cross Country, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Keefe’s room is a pride flag, School Projects, except they were never enemies, glitter wars, linh and marella are match makers, sophie and biana think they hate each other but they actually have huge crushes on each other, theres some death but not much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-23 17:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30059028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltywaves/pseuds/saltywaves
Summary: Biana Vacker and Sophie Foster hated each other. One would think being in the same social circle and both being captains of the Foxfire High Cross Country team would make them good friends. Instead, any interaction dissolves into arguments and name-calling — to the point that their friends are growing tired of it. So when they are assigned a partner project in history, Linh pulls a few strings and gets them partnered. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll learn more about each other than they ever thought — including newfound feelings.
Relationships: Background Marella Redek/Linh Song, Sophie Foster/Biana Vacker, background Keefe Sencen/Fitz Vacker, background Physic | Livvy Sonden/Della Vacker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Partnered

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic for the KOTLC 2021 collab on tumblr! My tumblr is @shellyseashell if you want to check it out. There art to go along with the fic on there so

**SOPHIE’S LEAST FAVORITE** part of the day was cross country practice. Not because she hated the sport — in fact, it was one of her favorite things. No, it was because Biana Vacker was her co-captain. One would think they would be best friends, with them both being in the same social circle and doing the same extracurriculars; but instead they could barely tolerate each other.

“Alright, team,” Sophie said. “This next meet will be hard. The Exilium Cross Country team is vicious. But do your best out there, and stay hydrated. We can do this!”

“Just make sure to pay attention to the path in front of you instead of the leaves above you, unlike a certain someone here,” Biana added snarkily.

Letting out a small growl, Sophie retaliated, “Make sure to warm up longer than five minutes so you don’t injure yourself.”

“But don’t use too much energy or you’ll trip about ten times a minute.”

“Well, maybe if someone actually helped me manage the trails we wouldn’t have to worry so much about watching where we’re going.”

“Maybe if we had more free time, I would.”

“Maybe if you took more responsibility and got things done on time—“

“I get things done on time!”

“Really? Because—”

Someone coughed, interrupting their little spat. Sophie glanced to the crowd of their team mates, many of whom were already starting to leave or just ignoring her all together. They were used to Biana and Sophie’s arguments.

Catching Marella’s eye, her short friend gave Sophie a look that told her if this argument went on any longer she’d slap her face off.

Not liking that she couldn’t get the last word in, she sighed. “Okay. All of you rest well. Hydrate. And do your best. We’ll be fine.”

Grabbing her bag off of the bench, Sophie turned and walked away, heading to the parking lot.

“You know,” Marella said from behind her, “it would do you good to at least _try_ to get along with Biana.”

“Really? Because I don’t think it would,” Sophie responded, barely giving her friend a glance.

“Why? You get along with Fitz just fine. And you’re friends with literally everyone else in our group.”

“Biana’s just . . . different,” Sophie said weakly, unable to explain why she hated the girl so much. Actually, she wasn’t even sure why she did. There was just something about Biana that set her on edge.

“Sounds to me like someone has repressed feelings for a certain someone,” Marella teased.

Sophie glared at Marella. “I do not!”

“Oooh, are we talking about Sophie and Biana’s totally hypothetical feelings for each other?” Linh said, coming up between them and wrapping an arm around Marella.

“We are.”

“I hate you both.”

“Awww, don’t be so rude,” Linh said. “Without us you’d have no one to complain about Biana to.”

“I have Dex.”

Sighing, Linh reached a hand up and tightened her two-toned ponytail. “Fair enough.” Wanting to change the subject she awkwardly said, “So, that huge history project.”

“Ugh, no offense Linh, but what was Tiergan thinking, assigning us something so huge?” Marella said.

“It’s a group project,” Linh pointed out. “We won’t be doing anything completely alone.”

“You do realize that one person still ends up doing everything on their own.”

“Who are you guys hoping to be partnered with?” Sophie asked. “We don’t find out until tonight, right?”

Linh nodded. “We do. And no, before you ask, I don’t know who everyone is paired with, and neither does Tam. Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Well, I’m hoping to be with you,” Marella said, smiling up at Linh. “Though I guess anyone else would work.”

Linh smiled back at her girlfriend. “If I’m not partnered with you, I’d want to be with Tam.”

“Can’t you make Tiergan partner you two together?” Sophie asked. “I mean, Tiergan _is_ your dad.”

Both of them looking to be on the verge of laughing, Linh and Marella shared a look. Sophie rolled her eyes. Leave it to them to have some sort of inside joke about history projects.

“Who do you want to be with?” Marella said.

Sophie froze. “What?”

Rolling her eyes at her friend, Marella repeated herself. “Who do you want to be partnered with, idiot?” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Sophie. “Seems like someone’s caught up in romantic fantasies.”

Flushed in embarrassment, Sophie continued walking. “Keefe or Dex. Fitz would be fine too, but then I’d have to be near Biana.”

“Yeah, who’d want to be near their girlfriend?” Marella mocked, making Linh laugh.

Sophie rolled her eyes. Her friends would be the death of her.

———

 **“HELLO!” SOPHIE CALLED** as she pushed open the door to her family’s animal shelter. Ruewen’s Animal Care doubled as a vet clinic and a shelter for animals that had yet to be adopted. It was also a place that she was supposed to help out at after school. She didn’t mind — though she’d be fine without all the _doctory_ aspects of everything, but she enjoyed getting to play with all the animals.

“Hey, kiddo,” Grady said, emerging from the hall. “How was practice?”

She shrugged. “The same as normal.”

“Biana annoyed you again and your friends teased you,” Grady said, earning a glare.

Sophie rounded the counter and dropped her bag behind it. “What do you need my help with?”

“I was just about to give some of the puppies baths.” Grady jerked his head back towards the room the dogs stayed in. “I could use some extra hands.”

Groaning, Sophie followed him. She loved the puppies, and wished she could adopt one herself (something Grady and Edaline would never agree to, saying they were too much work on top of managing the center), but bathing them was a hassle. With all of them jumping and playing around and trying to escape from the pool, she could count on ending the day covered in dirty bath water and soap.

Grady had already corralled the puppies into the bathing room (a concrete room with nothing but a kiddie pool and bottles of soap) when Sophie arrived.

“Five puppies?” Sophie commented, shutting the door behind her. Experience said that leaving it open would lead to a soap-covered dog or three racing through the halls. “Don’t we usually wash Spot with two other dogs? Because he doesn’t get along with the others?” Spot was one of their more recent animals, and he was having some trouble adjusting.

Grady poured soap into the water and swirled his arm around, getting the water nice and soapy. “We’re trying to have him get along with others. So we’re going to give him baths with more dogs.”

Kneeling down at the edge of the pool, Sophie nodded. Usually, when one of the animals didn’t get along with others, they either decreased the amount of contact they had, or slowly increased the amount of contact they had. Before long, they were best friends and got along great. Usually. There were times when it wasn’t so easy, but it all worked out eventually.

“Hey!” Sophie exclaimed, pulling Spot away from one of the other puppies. He had been growling and had that general _I don’t like you look_ he had before attacking. Holding him up so she was eye level with Spot, she said, “You don’t hurt them. They’re your friends. Yeah? They’re your friends. You don’t hurt friends.” In response to her scolding, Spot licked her nose, earning a sigh. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

It was not a yes. It was a _“You’re cute for thinking I’ll be nice.”_ The whole time they were bathing the puppies, Spot was snapping and growling at the two newcomers, while simultaneously protecting his friends, as if he thought they were in danger. The only danger they were in was from Spot.

“So,” Sophie said, wiping soap off her face after diving into the pool to pull one of the poor newcomers away from Spot, “I think this was a mistake.”

Grady agreed. “Maybe we should wait a little before letting him near other dogs.”

Shaking her head, Sophie pointed at one of the other newer dogs. “He got along well enough with that one. So let Spot near her, but keep the other away for now.”

Wrapping one of the puppies in a towel, Grady sighed. “We’ll see how that works.”

Sophie opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sophie turned to see Edaline leaning in, her auburn hair tied back and her uniform covered in dirt stains. She must have been cleaning the pens outside. Casting one look around the room, she snorted. “Eventful bath time, I see.”

Sophie had to agree. The floor was covered in a steady layer of water, Spot had earned a new enemy, and one puppy was thoroughly traumatized. “That’s one way to put it.”

“As it turns out,” Grady said, “Spot really doesn’t like other dogs.”

“Really?” Edaline deadpanned. “I had no idea. Anyway, Sophie, you got a notification from school. Something about a history project.”

Sophie jumped up. “I’ll go check. Thanks.”

Moving out of her way, Edaline nodded. Sophie headed down the hall to where her phone was, trying to guess who she was partnered with. Tiergan was good at partnering students with their friends, so if she had any luck she’d be with one of them. Dex or Marella or Linh or Tam or Fitz or Keefe. Even Stina wouldn’t be bad.

As it turned out, it was none of those people. When she opened up the post with the information, the name next to hers was not any of her friends’.

No, it read: _Sophie Foster and Biana Vacker._

———

 **BIANA WRINKLED HER** nose as Bullhorn licked it. She loved the overexcited puppy, but all the licks in the face could get annoying.

After cross country, she had gone to Keefe’s new home. He had recently been adopted by a doctor named Elwin and his husband. That of course meant a few things: Keefe no longer lived in an abusive home, he now had a puppy, and he had more freedom for inviting his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s sister over.

And it was nice to have a place to go other than home. Not that it was bad at home anymore — Biana and Fitz’s mother had divorced Alden a few months ago, which brought on a wave of peace. But soon after Keefe’s adoption, Della had started dating Elwin’s co-worker, Livvy. And she loved Livvy — really, she did — but it was a bit hard to adjust to, so soon after the divorce.

So until further notice, Biana would be tagging along with Fitz’s daily boyfriend visits.

Speaking of boyfriends, Keefe and Fitz were currently snuggling on Keefe’s bed, which made Biana want to gag.

Keefe’s room was, overall, very bright. His bed was pushed up against the corner and covered in stuffed animals (adoption gifts from Elwin). A desk was next to it, which was covered in markers and paints and paper and so messy that Biana had the urge to clean it for him. But she understood — Keefe finally had freedom, and he was using it.

Next to her, which may have been a smarter seating choice, was a bay window, again covered in multi-colored rainbows. Instead, she had chosen the rug that noticeably looked like the bi pride flag. And honestly, she’d have to find that mat for herself.

“Your room looks like you took one look at a pride flag and decided you wanted to live in it,” Biana said, sure that her sentence didn’t even make sense.

“What does that even mean?” Fitz questioned, confirming her thoughts. “Are you sure you feel okay?”

That last sentence was said in such a mocking tone, Biana rolled her eyes and shared an exasperated look with Bullhorn. “I just got back from cross country practice. Kindly shut up.”

Someone snorted, but she couldn’t tell if it was Fitz or Keefe. “How was practice?” So it had been Keefe.

“Oh, you know,” Biana said, “the usual. We stretched. We ran. Sophie was annoying. End practice.”

“Sophie’s not that bad, you know,” Fitz said. “You’d probably get along if you tried.”

Glaring at Fitz, Biana leaned up on her elbows, causing Bullhorn to slide off her chest and let out a small whine. She was pretty sure she could never get along with Sophie. They were complete opposites, as far as she was concerned. Other than running, she didn’t know what Sophie was interested in, but she was sure she wouldn’t like it. As sure as she was that her brother was annoying.

“Don’t give me that look!” he complained. “Look, I’m not saying be friends with her. I’m just saying to not constantly be at her throat.”

“You’re really overestimating Biana here,” Keefe said.

Having enough of their teasing, Biana marched across the room and stood over the bed, hands on her hips. Fitz and Keefe, tangled in each other’s arms, looked up at her with expressions both amused and fearful. Good. They should be scared of her. She had been told (by Fitz, specifically) that she was terrifying when angry.

“Both of you stop it! I’m not going to try to get along with Miss Perfect, and I never will! Don’t even try it! I get that Sophie is your friend and I get that you want us to get along, but you have to accept it’s not going to happen. I mean, she’s her, and I’m me! She’s a perfectionist and I’m not, she’s annoying, I’m slightly less annoying. The only things we have in common are being in the same grade, being Cross Country team captains, and being your friend! Honestly, I feel bad for her if you give her this same speech too.”

She finished her speech with a huff and awaited a reaction. She expected something like “You’re right Biana” or “We’ll stop pushing it Biana”. Instead she got laughter. A lot of it. So much, in fact, that Keefe rolled off the bed, and then laughed even more because Bullhorn started licking his face, which got more laughter from Fitz.

It was enough laughter to make Biana growl and stalk across the room. “It’s not funny!”

“Yes, it is,” Keefe said between gasping breaths. “It sounds like you have repressed feelings for her. You sound like me and Fitz before we got together.”

Frowing, Biana crossed the room once more, knelt before Keefe, and hit him on the arm lightly, which earned new rounds of laughter.

Her phone buzzing saved her from having to admit that Keefe had a point. It did not, however, take her mind off Sophie. “Speaking of Sophie—” she spun around “— we’ve been partnered for that history project.”

Having fully recovered from his laughing fit, Keefe sat up on his elbows, scratching Bullhorn behind his ears. “Oohh, which one?”

“The one about the war between the Ravagogans and Panakes,” Biana said distantly, seriously questioning Tiergan’s choices in partners — and wondering if Tam or Linh had something to do with this.

“It’s not that hard of an assignment,” Fitz said. “And Sophie’s good at history. It shouldn’t be too bad.”

Biana seriously disagreed.


	2. History Class

**SOPHIE WAS REALLY,** really not looking forward to history class. It would mean having to sit near Biana. It would be bearable for a little bit, but not the whole hour — maybe not even five minutes. 

Walking in to school with Dex offered a mild distraction, at least. Well, not Dex, since he constantly teasing her, much to her dislike. (“I’m allowed to tease you, I’m family.”)

It was the triplets who offered the distraction. Though they had matured a lot in the last few years, they still had a knack for trouble, and watching them get scolded by Bronte, one of the most strict but also kindhearted teachers at the school was a nice way to get her mind off the doomed history class.

“Honestly, you’d think they’d be kicked out of the school by now,” Sophie said as her and Dex headed to their lockers.

“Oh, trust me,” Dex said, “they won’t get kicked out until hell freezes over.”

Approaching her locker and spinning the padlock, Sophie said, “So, soon, then.”

Dex gave her a questioning look, shoving his bag into his locker. “Huh?”

Sophie shrugged. “I mean, with Biana and I partnered for that history project?”

“Wait.” Dex froze half way through pulling his books off the top shelf. “You and Biana were partnered for that?”

Sophie gaped at Dex, realizing she hadn’t told her cousin about the partnership. After getting that notification, she’d gone home to mentally prepare herself for the next few weeks. She hadn’t realized she’d forgotten to inform her friends on the new development, and in turn had no idea who their partners were. She’d find out in class.

“Yep,” Sophie said, popping the ‘p’. “Should be _real_ fun.”

“I don’t get why you hate her so much,” Dex said, narrowly avoiding his books falling on his head. When Sophie laughed, he sent her a glare. “Oh, so we’re going to pretend the same thing doesn’t happen to you all the time.” That earned a glare from Sophie, because it did happen often. “Anyway, Biana’s really not bad.”

“That’s what everyone says, but I just don’t see it.” Sophie turned and started walking down the hall, and Dex jogged to keep up with her.

“Maybe you don’t see it because you’re not trying.” At Sophie’s confused look, he elaborated. “I mean, you keep hating Biana and fighting with her for no reason. It’s like you _like_ arguing with her. Do you even know why you hate her?”

Sophie was shocked to realize she didn’t. There wasn’t anything specific about the girl that Sophie disliked. It was more of the general feeling she got around her. She couldn’t tell what it was, but she knew she didn’t like it. It made her feel all weird and tingly and like she had to run away that instant.

Dex took her silence as an answer. “Exactly. If you actually tried to get along, you might actually not hate each other. Isn’t _that_ a weird concept?”

Sophie grunted in response.

Dex placed a hand on her shoulder as they slowed to navigate the flow of students trying to enter and exit the history classroom. “Look, at least try. You don’t have to be best friends, but you need to come to an understanding if you want to get a good grade.”

“I’ll think about it,” Sophie said, knowing full well she wasn’t going to.

Sophie sat down in her seat, not bothering to take anything out of her bag since she’d be moving seats in a few minutes. Looking around, she caught Linh’s gaze, who gave her a knowing smile. She scowled. So she had known something about who was who’s partner! The betrayal she felt now was the same as when she brought one of the puppies at the shelter into a room with her and they ran out.

Before she could say something to Linh, Tiergan closed the classroom door behind the last strangler and walked to the front of the class. “By now, you all know who your partners are,” he said. “I’m going to go over the project one more time, just so you all know what you’re doing. The project is, of course, about the war between the Ravagogans and Panakes. You need to write an essay and make a poster on whichever part of the war you were assigned. You may split up the work however you’d like, but you must work together on at least part of it. Does anyone have any questions?” Tiergan looked around the room, but no one raised a hand. “No? Well, if you have any later feel free to ask. You may now find your partners.”

There was a scrapping of chairs as the class stood and met up with their partner. Sophie had to practically drag her feet across the room, to where Biana was sitting at an empty table, staring at her hands. Sitting down across from Biana, she spent more time than necessary pulling out various textbooks she would need and arranging pencils in a straight line. The weird feeling she got around Biana had returned, and she would do anything she could to ignore it.

“Are we going to get anything done, or are you just going to keep wasting time?”

Sophie snapped her gaze up, freezing as she rearranged her pencils once more. Biana was leaning her head on her hand, her dark hair tied behind her. “What, were you planning on doing something useful?”

Biana snorted. “Yes, actually. I already know how to do this project.”

“Know it all,” Sophie grumbled.

“What?” Biana said, smirking. “I didn’t catch that.”

“I _said_ ,” Sophie gritted her teeth, “if you already know what to do, then why don’t you _actually do some work_?”

Rolling her eyes, Biana placed the arm supporting her head across her other one, pulling her hand into the sleeve of her Cross Country hoodie. “This is a _group project_. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but group projects are typically done in groups. You know, _working together_.”

“I know how group projects work,” Sophie snapped, fumbling her hold on the pencils and causing them to tumble to the ground. Growling, Sophie bent to collect them and slammed them on the table. “And you could have, I dunno, said something.”

“I could have,” Biana agreed. “But I didn’t.”

Sophie growled and opened her mouth to say something, but caught Dex’s eye behind Biana’s back, who was glaring at her, and sighed. “Okay. You do the poster, I’ll do the essay. We can share a doc with notes and use that for the working together bit.”

Biana clenched her jaw and nodded, opening her laptop and getting to work.

The rest of class went pretty well. Sophie and Biana hardly talked, but by the end of class the notes sheet was fully filled and Sophie had a full outline of the essay. She assumed Biana had a pretty good idea of what she’d be doing for a poster, but she didn’t want to ask.

As soon as the bell rang, Sophie bolted out of class, wanting to get out of there as fast as she could. She had a few classes until lunch, when she’d head to the library to do extra research. There was no way she was letting Biana do better than her, even if they were working on the same project.

“You and Biana seemed to work well together.” Sophie jumped. She hadn’t heard Dex come up next to her. “You know, _after_ you stopped arguing.”

Sophie snorted. “That’s only because we weren’t actually working together. She did research, I did research. She does the poster, I do the paper. She does her thing, I do mine. We get along. See? The only way we get along is if we _don’t_.”

“Okay, weird logic aside,” said Dex, opening his locker, “this is a huge project. Maybe you should invite Biana to get some work done after school. Who knows, maybe you’ll become friends.” He nudged Sophie, wiggling his eyebrows in a way that made Sophie roll her eyes.

“Maybe I should,” Sophie agreed. “I’ll see as we get farther into the project.”

———

**BIANA WAS GLAD** when class was over. She hated working with Sophie, and she hated even more how she was the one to take charge on the project. Not that she hadn’t tried, and while the outcome would have been similar, it irritated her that _Sophie_ had been the one to start the work. She never got anything done.

But they made good progress, meaning Biana wouldn’t have to spend too much time on it that afternoon, leaving more time for other assignments and Cross Country. Their big meet with Exilium was in a week, and she needed to be ready. No way was she going to let them beat her again.

At lunch, she sat with Fitz and Keefe, as usual. Honestly, sometimes she felt like she was walking in on intimate moments when she sat with them, but if Sophie wasn’t in the library, she was usually sitting with Linh and Marella, and she couldn’t sit with them and risk it.

Looking around, though, she didn’t notice Sophie anywhere. Must have been a library day for her.

“So,” Keefe said, placing his tray down across from her, “how was history? Was it as disastrous as you said it would be?”

Biana hesitated before saying, “Kinda?”

“This is a yes or no question, Biana. I’m going to need a clearer answer.” Keefe placed his head on his hands, an innocent smile on his face that let Biana know she was in for a lot of teasing.

“We argued at first,” Biana amended. “But once she took charge and got us starting on work it wasn’t too bad. It was weird. One minute she was organizing her pencils weirdly, the next we were arguing, then she just told me what to do and didn’t listen to my suggestions.” She hesitated another second. “Not that I ever got the chance to say them. But you get my point.”

“Interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

“Wellllll,” Keefe drew out the word, “Sophie only organizing her things like that when she’s nervous.”

“Yeah, well, she had no reason to be nervous,” Biana said. “Your logic doesn't hold up.”

“I think does, considering I’m actually her friend,” Keefe retaliated. “Trust me, she was nervous.”

Before Biana could say anything else, Tam plopped down into the chair next to her. “Marella and Linh are being annoying. They’re trying to convince Sophie to ask Biana to work on that project outside of class.”

So it wasn’t a library day after all. “Wait — _is_ she going to ask me to work outside of class?”

Tam leaned his head on his hands. “I came over here to get _away_ from your drama.”

“I’ll take that as a maybe.”

“It’s not much different over here, honestly,” Fitz said, speaking for the first time that lunch period.

Keefe nodded. “You’d be better off sitting with Maruca.”

“She’s sitting near Linh and Marella,” Tam said. “I’ll stay here, thanks.”

The conversation continued on, the group talking about anything and everything. Biana wasn’t paying much attention, and about halfway through the period, she decided to head to the library. If Sophie wasn’t going to do extra research, then she would.

The library was large and quiet. She could get lost in the rows forever if she tried. She didn’t particularly _like_ the library, but she liked the quiet. It was different from how it usually was at home, but it was comforting. A good way to get away from her worries a home, especially when Della had been going through the whole process of divorcing Alden.

Approaching the aisles where she’d find the books she needed, Biana was certain she heard sniffles like someone was crying, but she hadn’t seen anyone else in the library, so she brushed it off.

But turning the corner, she did find someone. Sophie was sitting, curled against the shelf, close to tears.


End file.
